“Entrepreneurship”
Education—
This
Summer!
Soon it will be summer. Although there are a few hard-core home- school families who go year- round with their formal studies
and others who in an effort to “finish”
the curriculum for the year end up
working until late July, many families
take the summer “off.” And while there
may still be a few who need their children working on the farm to feed the
family, for many families summer is a
season of less structure, more leisure
(sometimes too much?), and an opportunity to do special things that require
time—something that’s not easy to find
during the school year.
Helping with our full-time family business affords them many experiences and
has taught them a lot as well.
Starting and operating a micro-busi-ness is a superb way for young people
to apply the knowledge and ability they
acquire through their academic studies,
as well as to develop many non-academic
but supremely useful life skills, including
There’s no better way
to understand the
microeconomics of
profit and loss than
to try one’s hand at
entrepreneurship.
planning, budgeting, designing, schedul-
ing, presentation, organization, commu-
nication—maybe even getting up early!
It’s one thing to miscalculate a percentage
for a textbook problem, but doing so in
a real business is a lesson that hurts and
will mean a lot more than a lower score
on a math test. Attention to detail can-
not be taught (or learned) by lecture or
nagging; real consequences are critical.
While it’s easy to wish that our children
would speak more politely, dress more
professionally, and exhibit more poise
and maturity, being in business forces it,
as successfully marketing and selling a
product or service requires all those be-
haviors. Children who really don’t seem
to care about organizing their clothes or
possessions will often become extremely
careful about organizing their business
supplies or inventory.
126;May;2012;•;Finishing;the;Race
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
